Celtics lose, Paul Pierce upset about playing time

By Bill Doyle TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Monday

Jan 30, 2012 at 12:22 AMJan 30, 2012 at 11:57 AM

After Cleveland scored the final 12 points, including Kyrie Irving's go-ahead drive with 2.6 seconds left, to beat the Celtics, 88-87, last night at the Garden, Paul Pierce was upset and not just because his team lost. The Celtics' captain wasn't pleased about sitting out most of the fourth quarter.

After Cleveland scored the final 12 points, including Kyrie Irving's go-ahead drive with 2.6 seconds left, to beat the Celtics, 88-87, last night at the Garden, Paul Pierce was upset and not just because his team lost.

The Celtics' captain wasn't pleased about sitting out most of the fourth quarter.

“Maybe I should play a little bit more,” Pierce said.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers often rests starters to start the fourth quarter, especially when his team has the lead. Boston took a 70-62 advantage into the fourth and stretched it to 87-76 on a Brandon Bass foul shot with 4:25 left, but didn't score again.

Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Avery Bradley, who had rolled his right ankle late in the third quarter, reentered the game with 3:42 left and Boston on top, 87-80. But they couldn't stop the momentum shift and saw their four-game winning streak snapped.

Pierce couldn't say for sure what would have happened if he had reentered the game sooner.

“I wish I was a fortune teller,” he said. “I don't think this would have been the outcome though.”

Pierce did his best not to second-guess Rivers.

“I'm more upset with losing more so than not getting back in,” Pierce said. “I would have liked to have been in there to finish off the game, but the coaches make their decisions. At the time you can understand when we have an eight-, nine-point lead to rest the guys. So it's a double-edged sword.”

Pierce's late return would have been a nonfactor if he and Ray Allen didn't miss layups late in the game and Garnett wasn't called for a walk with Boston leading, 87-86, with 42.6 seconds left after he rebounded Allen's missed 3-pointer.

After Antawn Jamison missed a 3-pointer, Bass got the rebound, but Anderson Varejao stole the ball and called timeout with 22.2 seconds left. Irving then drove around a Varejao screen to put Cleveland ahead, 88-87.

“They gave me the ball at the end of the game,” Irving said, “and they trusted me to make that shot, at least take it.”

“He made a good play,” Bradley said. “Split me and Brandon and he made a tough left-handed layup. Tough one.”

After a couple of timeouts, Pierce missed a jumper at the final horn, but he didn't get it off in time anyway.

Over the final 4:57, the Celtics took only five shots and missed them all. They also committed the final three of their 16 turnovers.

With the Celtics up, 87-82, Alonzo Gee clearly bumped Pierce, so he threw the ball at the rim to draw a shooting foul, but no foul was called and Cleveland got the rebound to set up a Varejao layup.

“They said that he didn't touch him,” Rivers said the referees told him.

“Nothing I can do about it,” Pierce said.

Allen returned after missing three games with a jammed left ankle and led the Celtics with 22 points. Pierce had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but he also turned the ball over 7 times. He had 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the third quarter to help Boston turn a 44-43 halftime deficit into a 70-62 lead. Garnett had 14 points and 7 rebounds. Bass scored 13.

“We didn't take the ball out of Kyrie's hands,” Allen said, “or at least make him see more pressure and make him play under duress. He got to his spots and he made the plays he needed to do for his team.”

Varejao had 18 points and nine rebounds. Gee scored 14 off the bench for the Cavs, who had lost five of their last six.

“This was a bad loss for us,” Rivers said. “Not that it was Cleveland. It was that we had the game under control and we didn't take care of it.'

“This loss hurt,” Garnett said. “Let's not sugarcoat it. This one hurt. You can't put any sprinkles on top of this cupcake. I don't know a guy in here that wasn't distraught or hurt.”

The Celtics will visit Cleveland tomorrow night with revenge in mind.

Bradley said his ankle was fine and he expected to play tomorrow.

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